Jaiswal Alankrit, Shreekantiah Umesh, Goyal Nishant
Dept. of Psychiatry, Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India.
Indian J Psychol Med. 2023 Nov;45(6):555-564. doi: 10.1177/02537176231162518. Epub 2023 Apr 20.
Neurotrophins have been implicated in multiple psychiatric disorders. Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) is one of the major neurotrophins that has attracted much research interest. Therefore, we undertook, to the best of our knowledge, the first scoping review encompassing all major psychiatric disorders and their relation to NGF. This review aimed to identify the current position of NGF in psychiatric research and to outline present gaps in knowledge, which can be answered with a more detailed systematic review in the future.
Suitable studies were identified using PubMed. A total of 20 studies were included in the review: two on bipolar affective disorder (BPAD), three on schizophrenia, seven on depression, and eight on alcohol use disorder.
NGF levels are definitively reduced in BPAD and depression, while NGF levels in schizophrenia decreased further after treatment than in the drug-naïve state. The effect of treatment on NGF levels in depression varied based on treatment modalities and severity of depression. In patients with depression, raised NGF was a predictor of conversion to bipolar disorder (BD). NGF levels were raised in acute alcohol intoxication and withdrawal but normalized slowly as abstinence was maintained. NGF may play a protective role in preventing the toxic ill effect of acute alcohol intoxication on the central nervous system.
Based on current knowledge, NGF levels may be a useful biomarker of a chronic mental stress condition. However, further research is needed before it can be used to identify a specific psychiatric illness or predict treatment response.
神经营养因子与多种精神疾病有关。神经生长因子（NGF）是主要的神经营养因子之一，已引起众多研究关注。因此，据我们所知，我们开展了首次涵盖所有主要精神疾病及其与NGF关系的范围综述。本综述旨在确定NGF在精神疾病研究中的当前地位，并概述当前知识空白，未来可通过更详细的系统综述来解答这些问题。
通过PubMed检索合适的研究。本综述共纳入20项研究：两项关于双相情感障碍（BPAD），三项关于精神分裂症，七项关于抑郁症，八项关于酒精使用障碍。
BPAD和抑郁症患者的NGF水平确实降低，而精神分裂症患者治疗后的NGF水平比未用药时进一步下降。治疗对抑郁症患者NGF水平的影响因治疗方式和抑郁症严重程度而异。在抑郁症患者中，NGF升高是转为双相情感障碍（BD）的预测指标。急性酒精中毒和戒断时NGF水平升高，但随着持续戒酒会缓慢恢复正常。NGF可能在预防急性酒精中毒对中枢神经系统的毒性不良影响方面发挥保护作用。
基于目前的知识，NGF水平可能是慢性精神应激状态的有用生物标志物。然而，在其可用于识别特定精神疾病或预测治疗反应之前，还需要进一步研究。
